Political campaign game apparatus



United States Patent Primary Examiner-Delbert B. Lowe Attorney-Addams &Ferguson [72] Inventor Robert H. Atkinson ABSTRACT: A political campaigngame apparatus compris- Washington, District ofColumbio (3220 ing aboard having a main course marked thereon. The main Dunster Court,Cambridge Station Fairfax course includes a plurality of spaces wheresome of the spaces VA 22030) correspond to voting units, such as one ormore states of the [2 1] Appl. No. 696,227 United States of America.Further. the voting units are divided [22] Filed Jan. 8, 1968 intogroups or coalitions. A spinner is used to determine the [45] PatentedDec. 8, 1970 number of spaces a player moves. When a players piece movesto one of the voting units, he consults a vote calculator whichindicates the percentage of the total unit vote which is POLITICALCAMPAIGN GAME APPARATUS won or lost in that voting unit as a result of aposition that l3 chlmia9blawilll 8 player took on a particular issue.Each voting unit space, in 52 us. CI. 213/134 addition 10 containingindicia corresponding to the total unit [51] hm CL H A633"); vote, alsocontains indicia identifying the unit, which typically 501 FieldofSearch 273/134 is a We of United States; a number indicating thenumerical order of the position of the unit with respect to other unitson the main course; and a number indicating 10 percent of the 56]References Cited electorate of the unit. v

UNITED STATES PATENTS The main course of the game board also includesother spaces such as Decision and Running Mate spaces which 678,8247/i90l Carney 273/130 p i y correspond to Decision and i g M cards8222:: et piled, face-downward, in the central portion of the game 330,3/1960 Gross et a 273/134 board. Upon landing upon such a space, aplayer must select one of these cards and follow the instructionsthereon. A Party Preference Survey space is also provided to allow aplayer landing thereon to select a particular coalition favoring him.

'IEHOIATIG GAMPAION NIAUQUAIrlI- UNIONIM RUNNING mm:

no. W S I D Mil. OOALIYDON PATENTED DEC 8 I976 SHEET 2 OF 3 IINVENTURfirm 60w ATTORNEYS POLITICAL CAMPAIGN GAME APPARATUS BACKGROUNDOF THEINVENTION This invention relates to a novel political campaign game. Thegame is designed to simulate the conditions which affect a politicalcampaign. The game basically involves the winning and losing of votes asthe campaign progresses in various voting units (one or more states, forexample). In order to do this, the candidate-player must take a positionon several issues and thereby arrive at his platform. And, based on thisplatform, a players fortunes rise and fall as he encounters variousvoting units which must be for, against, or undecided about the platformupon which he is running. The players can take a conservative,progressive, or indecisive position on each of the issues involved inthe campaign in accordance with their own political leanings or inaccordance with a strategy which they feel affords them the greatestchance of winning the election.

Prior art relating to this invention is as follows: U.S. Pat. Nos.1,714,546; 2,209,117; 3,058,747; 2,930,621; and

SUMMARY It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide agame which accurately simulates and recreates a political campaign.

Another object is to provide a game which simulates the election of thePresident of the United States either by the electoral vote method or bythe popular vote method.

A further object is to provide a political campaign game which permitsthe players to take positions on the issues and thereby form a platformupon which the players hopes rise and fall.

A further object is to provide a political campaign game in which theplayers are provided with a game board having a main course divided intoa plurality of areas, which respectively represent voting units such asone or more states of the United States of America. 1

A further object is to provide a political game ofthe above type whereinsome of the spaces of the main course are associated with cards havinggame-affecting instructions thereon and wherein some of said cardspermit the player to decide which of two alternative choices he willtake with respect to the conductof his campaign.

For further comprehension of the invention, reference should be made tothe following detailed description, drawings, and claims, in which thevarious novel features are more particularly set forth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a plan view of a playingboard for a board game apparatus constructed in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one side of an illustrative embodiment of avote calculator employed in playing the game, a portion of the circulardial being broken away to show parts of the annular chart underneath thedial.

FIG. 3 is a side view of one of the playing pieces employed in the game.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a spinner employed in the game.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a token employed in the game.

FIG. 6 represents certain ones of Electoral" cards used in the game.

FIG. 7 represents certain ones'of Ballot. cards used in the alternativemethod of playing the game.

FIG. 8 represents certain ones of a set of cards identified as Decision"cards which are included in the game.

FIG. 9 represents certain ones of a set of cards identified as RunningMate" cards which are included in the game.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referringnow to the drawings, and to FIG. 1 in particular, the game apparatus ofthe invention includes a playing surface which is preferably in the form.of a board designated generally by the numeral 10in FIG. 1. In thepreferred embodiment, the board 10 is substantially square-shaped asshown and contains an upper surface 12 on which is provided, by printingor the like, suitable indicia and graphic illustrations in accordancewith the invention, as will be explained hereinafter.

In order to provide a playing field for the players, a playing path ormain course, designated generally by the numeral 14,

is provided. The main course 14 is divided into a series of spaces orareas, some of which are numbered, for the purpose of this description,1 through '36, and others of which are numbered 40-58 as shown, Some ofthe last mentioned numbers being applied to groups of spacesrepresenting coalitions. The numerals 1-36 are imprinted as indicia onthe playing surface and respectively correspond to 36 voting units, mostof which are single states (such as space 36 which corresponds to NewYork) and some of which are two or more states (such as space 9 whichcorresponds to North and South Dakota). Note that it is possible toprovide 51 voting units corresponding to the 50 states and the Districtof Columbia; however, the choice of 36 voting units is preferred.Further although the more or less random arrangement of the voting unitsalong the main A course as shown in FIG. 1 is-preferred, one possibledifferent arrangement would be to space the voting units from theElection Central space 40 in accordance with each units rank in thevoting age population or size of the electorate.

Within each space 1-36 is also included the number of electoral votes(preferably based on the most current decennial census) corresponding tothe voting unit represented by that space. This number is employed inthe preferred method of playing the game and is printed preferably inthe left-central portion of the space, and thus New York is indicated ashaving 43 electoral votes while the North and South Dakota voting unitis indicated as having eight electoral votes. Also included in each ofthe spaces 1-36 at the right-central portion thereof is an alphanumericrepresentation indicating 10 percent of the electorate of the votingunit corresponding to the space. This representation is used with analternate method of playing the game and, accordingly, 10 percent of theelectorate of New York is indicated as 1,000,000 yoters while 10 percentof the electorate of the North and South Dakota voting unit 'isindicated as 75,000 voters. a

As is shown in FIG. 1, the voting units are divided into si coalitionsand, thus, the North and South Dakota voting unit is grouped into theGreat Lakes coalition 39 with Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana.The remaining coalitions are: 1 the Yankee coalition 37, 2 the Dixiecratcoalition 41, 3 the Rural Heartlands coalition 43, 4 the PacificNorthwest coalition 45, and 5 the Big City coalition 47. The purpose ofthese coalitions will be explained in more detail hereinafter.

The main course 14 also includes a variety of additional spaces 40-58which lends further interest to the game and which intensifies thecompetitive play between the participants. These additional spaces arepreferably less in number than the voting unit spaces 1-36. In thespecific embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the additional spaces include1 the corner spaces: Election Central" space 40, Republican CampaignHeadquarters space 44, Party Preference Survey" space 50, and DemocraticCampaign Headquarters space 54; and 2 spaces positioned along the fourlegs of the main course: Decision spaces 42, 48 and 56, and Running Matespaces 46, 52 and 58. The purposes of these additional spaces will bedescribed in more detail hereinafter. The main course is continuous,with the Election Central space 40 constituting the starting point, sothat the players may move through the course 14 continuously during theplay until the termination of the game. The board surface 12 alsocontains marked off indicate for convenience that portion of the surfaceon which sets of cards identified as Decision and Running Mate cards 90and 92 (see FIGS. 8 and 9), respectively, are piled, face downward, aswill be described in more detail hereinafter. Also printed on theplaying surface 12 is a Political Platforms chart 63 which includes theissues on which each of the players takes a position, the issues beingnumbered 1-12 as shown. The particular issues (such as the UnitedNations, Farm Subsidies, etc.) are preferably printed on the playingsurface. In other embodiments of the game apparatus, it may be desirablenot to print the issues on the playing surface but rather on a separatesheet of paper. It can be seen that this modification facilitateskeeping the issues current since the game owner would only have topurchase a new set of issues together with a vote calculator (describedhereinafter) each time a change of issues was required. However, as canbe appreciated, the issues shown in FIG. 1 are ones of generalcontinuing interest. And, thus, it is not contemplated that a change ofthe FIG. 1 set of issues would be required for a long period of time.Further, in this regard, however, it may be desirable to use a set ofissues which are rather specific thereby probably necessitating fairlyregular changes in the issues. For example, the issues may be restrictedon a geographical basis, for example, to those of interest in aparticular state or geographical region, such as the Far West. However,when the set of platforms is so restricted, it can be appreciated thatthe designations on the voting unit spaces l-36 would have to be changedto correspond to the smaller geographical region.

The game according to the invention also includes a vote calculatorshown in FIG. 2. The calculator preferably includes a circular disk 64on both sides of which is printed a circular array of numerals 136 atthe periphery thereof. Only one side of the calculator is shown forpurposes of clarity; however, a description of one side will besufficient inasmuch as the two sides are substantially the same. Thenumerals l-36 respectively correspond to the voting unit spaces 1-36along the main course I4 of the playing surface 12. An annular chart 66containing numeric indicia 68 is printed on both sides of the disk 64within the circle of numerals l-36. Thus on both sides of the disk areprinted substantially similar indicia, the only difference being theparticular indicia printed within the circle of numerals 1-36. For eachof the voting units 1-36, there are l2 issues l-IZ on which the playerstake a position in that voting unit as will be described in more detailhereinafter. These issues have been generally discussed hereinbefore andrespectively correspond to the issues listed in chart 63 of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 2, there is shown a circular dial 70 including a notched sector72, the dial 70 being rotatably held by appropriate means such as aneyelet 74 to the disk 64. On the opposite side of disk 64 is alsorotatably held another notched dial (not shown) by the eyelet 74.Printed adjacent the notched sector 72 along a radial line are thenumerals 1-6 which respectively correspond to the issues 16 listed inchart 63 of FIG. I. The numerals 7-12 (not shown) are rinted adjacentthe notched sector of the dial attached to the opposite side of disk 64.The indicia 68 of the annular chart 66 are disposed in 36 radial columnswhich respectively correspond to the voting units l-36. The columncorresponding to voting unit 9 is shown in FIG. 2, it being exposed bythe notched sector 72. Portions of the radial columns corresponding tovoting units 2731 are also exposed in FIG. 2. For each of the issuenumerals I6 disposed along the notched sector 72, three concentric ringsare provided and within each of these three rings for a given radialcolumn (voting unit) there is printed a number, which may have a plus,minus or zero value. Thus, the complete annular chart 66, as seen inFIG. 2, comprises 36 radial columns and l8 concentric circles. Briefly,the numeric indicia 68 represent the percentage of the popular vote of aparticular voting unit which a player either gains or loses for havingtaken a particular position on a given issue in that unit. In otherwords, the numeric indicia 68 represent the percentage change of thevote of a particular voting unit controlled by a player because of theposition he has taken on a particular issue within that unit. Three ofthe percentage change indicia 68 are disposed adjacent each of theplatform numerals 1-6 for each voting unit. Thus, for voting unit 9(North and South Dakota), the percentage change indicia 20, 0 and 20 arelisted adjacent the Civil Rights Issue 4, shown in FIG. 2. The upperpercentage change indicia 20 indicates that a player will lose 20percent of the vote of voting unit 9 if he has previously announced hisposition as being for Civil Rights. If undecided, his control of thevotes remains unchanged, and if against, he gains 20 percent of thevote. It should be noted that a player can gain or lose votes eventhough undecided on a particular issue. Thus, if a player were undecidedabout Farm-Subsidies in unit 9, he would still gain 10 percent of thevote for that voting unit. Whenever the percentage change indicia 68indicate a loss of vote control, they may be colored red while for again or no change in vote control, they are colored black. Theparticular percentage change indicia 68 have been chosen to reflect theactual, long-range feelings about the various platforms within therespective voting units.

Each of the players (preferably two through six in number) representsthe presidential candidate of a political party. Six typical partieswould be Liberal Democrat, Independent Democrat, Conservative Democrat,Liberal Republican, Independent Republican, and Conservative Republican.Each of the players is represented by a piece or token for registeringmovement through the course 14, one of which is shown in FIG. 3 and isdesignated by the numeral 80. The pieces are of different colors so thateach players movement through the course 14 may be readily identifiedwithout confusion.

Any suitable means involving the element of chance may be included inthe game for indicating the extent of a players movement through thecourse 14 as each player takes his turn. Preferably a spinner 82, asshown in FIG. 4, having a rotatable pointer and twelve sectors marked 1through I2, is employed thereby equalizing the probability that any ofthe numbers 1- -12 will result after the spinner is hit. The resultingnumber determines l the number of spaces in the main course 14 throughwhich the player's piece is to be moved and 2 other important matterswhich will be discussed hereinafter.

Each player attempts to gain control of the vote of as many voting unitsas possible in the preferred method of playing the game. To indicate theextent of each players control of the various voting units, tokens areprovided, one of which is shown in FIG. 5 and designated by the numeral84. Each player is provided with a plurality of these tokens (preferably100), the color of the tokens corresponding to the color of the pieceselected by the player. The playing surface 12 of the board preferablyhas printed thereon lines which extend beyond the lines defining thevoting units 136 as shown at 86 and 88, for example. Preferably, eachplayer places between the lines 86 and 88 the number of tokenscorresponding to the extent of his control over the voting unit 9 (Northand South Dakota). Each of the tokens, in this embodiment of theinvention, represents 10 percent of the vote and, thus, if player A has40 percent of the vote of unit 9, four tokens of his color will beplaced between lines 86 and 88 while if player B has 10 percent of thevote of unit 9, only one token of his color will be placed between thelines. Although it is preferred that each token represent 10 percent ofthe vote, any round FIG. from I to percent can be used. This couldnecessitate several denominations" of voting tokens.

In the preferred embodiment, the number of tokens cannot exceed 10 or100 percent of the available vote from a voting unit. when 100 percentof the vote is controlled for a particular voting unit, no furtherchange or shift of the vote for or against any of the players ispermitted for this unit and the space corresponding to this unit becomesa free space upon which all players can land with impunity. The mannersby which the players gain or lose control over the votes of the votingunits are several. The most important way is via the vote calculator,discussed hereinbefore. However, practically every feature. of the gameapparatus has as its purpose, either directly or indirectly, to affectthe extent of vote control each of the players has over the respectivevoting units and thereby effectively simulate a political campaign.

The player controlling the greatest number of votes for a particularvoting unit is given an Electoral Vote card 94, in the preferred. methodof playing the game (Electoral Vote), as shown in FIG. 6. As the play ofthe game progresses, the Vote card 94 may change hands many times asdifferent players assume control of the votes for a particular unit.However, as long as a player holds an Electoral Vote card, he isentitled to all of the electoral votes of the voting unit correspondingto that card. Further, if and when 100 percent of the vote for aparticular unit is controlled, the player having a majority, if any, atthat time is conceded that voting unit by the other players and heretains possession of the card 94 corresponding to that unit for theremainder of the game. If two or more players control an equal number ofthe votes of the unit, the tie is broken at the end of the game in anappropriate manner, preferably governed by an element of chance, as willbe described in more detail hereinafter.

In the alternate method of playing the game (Popular Vote), each playeris given one or more of the Ballots96 shown in FIG. 7 for each 1.0percent of the vote of a particular voting unit that he controls.Preferably, there are six denominations of Ballots: 25,000; 50,000;100,000; 500,000;

1,000,000 and 5,000,000 votes. Since the number of votes a playercontrols in a particular voting unit contributes to his grand total atthe end of the game, even if he doesnot control the majority of votesfor that unit, there is no exchange of Ballot cards 96 between theplayers as is the case with the Electoral Vote cards 94 in the preferredmethod of playingthe game. Rather, an exchange occurs with therepresentative of the Electoral College (a player so appointed prior toplay of the game) who gives toand receives from the players the Ballotcards as they gain and lose control of the votes of the various votingunits. This representative also is employed in the preferred. method ofplaying the game as a caretaker of the tion has been chosen by orassigned to a player,the tokens preferably being placed off the playingsurface 12 and adjacent the assigned coalition.

When a players' piece 80 lands, on one of the Decision spaces 42, 48 or56, or one of the Running Mate spaces 46,52

or 58, the player is required to select the top card from a piled set ofDecision cards 90 (preferably green), which are shown in detail in FIG.8, or the top .card from a piled set of Running Mate cards 92(preferably'y'ellow), which are shown in detail in FIG. 9. The cards 90and 92 are appropriately stacked in the regions 60 and 62, respectively,on the board surface 12 and impose upon the player a decision which mustbe-made, dictate a movement on" the main course, or affect the playerscontrol of the vote in one or more of the voting units. Typicalinscriptions on theDecision and Running Mate cards are tive is chosen,the player must payanypenalties that may result from advancing to thatunit before following the additional instructions relating to theadvancementQWhile any number of cards 90 and 92 may be provided, in thepreferred embodiment of the invention twenty of the Decision cards andtwenty of the Running Mate cards are employed and any suitableplay-affecting information such as shownon the drawings may be inscribedon the cards.

' Further important features of the game are derived from the cornerareas 40, 44, and 54. Besides serving as a starting point for play ofthe game, the Election Central space 40 serves as a point which whenpassed by a player permits that player to increase his control of thevoting unit of his choice by 10 percent. If a player stops on space 40and then moves away therefrom on his next turn, this counts only as onepassing of the Election Central space.

Whenever one of the Republican and Democratic Campaign Headquartersspaces 44 and 54 is landed upon by a player, he is permitted to increaseby 10 percent his control over the vote in the voting unit of his choiceif the party he represents corresponds to the Campaign Headquarters uponwhich he landed; if not, he either I must select for each of the playersrepresenting the party different from his (for this pur-' pose of theseCampaign Headquarters spaces all shades of Democrats are considered tobe of the same party and different from all shades of Republicans whichare also considered to be of the same party) the voting unitsof hisrespective choices in which he will lose 10 percent of the vote and theywill gain 10 percent of the vote or 2 lose three turns.lf he decides tosurrender votes in the voting units of his choice to the candidates ofthe opposite party, he has the power to designate which of thesecandidates gain votes in which voting units.

Whenever the Party Preference Survey space 50 is landed upon by aplayer, that player is. permitted to select one of the coalitions 37-47depending on his particular preference. This results in a reassignmentof the coalitions to the respective players, the players successively tothe left of the player who landed on space50 being assigned thecoalitions successively to the left of the selected coalition. Theinitial selection and assignment of the coalitions will be describedhereinafter.

When play is to be engaged in utilizing a novel game constructed inaccordance with the invention, preferably two to six players mayparticipate, each one choosing a playing piece 80 of FIG. 3.As'previously discussed, the pieces are readily distinguishable from thestandpoint of color where the pieces respectively representthe*followingpolitical parties: Liberal Democrat, Independent Democrat,Conservative Democrat, Liberal Republican, Independent Republican, andConservative Republican.

One of the players acts as representative of the Electoral College andthis player handles the Electoral Vote cards 94 or the Ballots 96 priorto the beginning of and during the game. This player also participatesin the game in the manner of the other players.

In the preferred method of playing the game, a player may win the gamein either of two ways, that is, I byobtaining the largest number of theelectoral votes within a predetermined periodof time 60 minutes for twoor three players and minutes for four, five or six players), or 2 bybeing the first one to obtain a predetermined number of the electoralvotes (225 votes for two or three players and I75 votes for four, five,or six players). Thus, in this preferred method of playing the game,there is a continuing struggle among the players to obtain a plurality(no matter how slight) of the votes of a suffi cient number of thevoting units to insure victory at the end of the game or campaign.

The next step is to determine which of the players goes first.

The spinner 82 is hit by each of them and the one getting the highestnumber takes the first turn. The remaining players take their turns inaccordance with their position successively tothe left of the firstplayer. An advantage accorded to the player going first is the selectionof the coalition of his choice. This advantage exists because, in theevent of a tie at the end of the game between two or more playersastothe control of a particular voting pnit, the tie may be broken itany of the players is favored by the coalition within which that votingunit lies. Otherwise, the tie is broken by having each of the playershit the spinner, the one with the highest number winning. The remainingplayers have no choice in the selection of the remaining coalitions, theorder of the assignment being determined by the successive positions ofthe remaining players to the left of the player who obtained the highestnumber on the spinner. As explained hereinbefore, the coalitionassignments can change whenever one of the players lands upon the PartyPreference Survey space 50. In addition to selecting the coalition ofhis choice, the player with the highest number also chooses the party ofhis choice and the remaining players proceed with their partyselections, in order, to the left of this player. Each player indicateshis party preference on a separate sheet of paper (not shown). Theselection of a party is final and the player is considered that party'spresidential candidate.

Next each player takes a position on each of the issues by writing onthe above-mentioned sheet of paper whether he is for, against orundecided about each of the 12 issues. Thus, for example, player A'sposition 'may be that he is for the Civil Rights issue 4 while Player Bmay decide that he is against this particular issue. As statedhereinbefore, it may be possible to gain votes by being undecided on aparticular issue but usually the greatest number of votes is gained orlost, respectively, by being for or against a particular platform. At notime can a player change his stand on any of the twelve issues duringthe preferred method of playing the game. However, the game could alsobe played in such a way that the players would be permitted to changetheir platforms at various stages of the game. Thus, a Decision cardmight permit a change on a particular issue.

After the above preliminaries have been completed, all of the pieces areplaced on Election Central space 40 and the player who spun the highestnumber commences the campaign. He hits the spinner and advances thenumber of spaces indicated. If he lands on a voting unit space, thenumber he spun also indicates the issue on which he will campaign inthat voting unit although another hit on the spinner may be employed todetermine the issue to be campaigned upon. The calculator is thenemployed to determine the percentage of votes won or lost in the votingunit landed upon. For example, if a player was on voting unit space 5(Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia) and spun five, he wouldadvance to voting unit 9 (North and South Dakota) where he wouldcampaign on issue number 5 (that is, Farm Subsidies). Using thecalculator, the circular dial 70 is rotated until the notched sector '72is aligned with the numeral 9 at the periphery of the disk 64, as shownin FIG. 2. If the player were for Farm Subsidies, the calculatorindicates that the voters of North and South Dakota would reward himwith 30 percent of that unit's votes. If undecided, he gains 10 percentand if against, he loses percent. If prior to landing on voting unit 9the player controlled less than 20 percent of the vote of that unit, hewould lose only that amount which will reduce his percentage of votecontrol to zero, that is, negative vote control percentages are notprovided for. For each 10 percent of the vote won or lost, respectively,the player either places or removes one of his tokens 84 (see FIG. 5) onor from the space provided above the voting unit. If he has gainedmajority control (that is, he has more tokens than any other player forthat voting unit), he is given the Electoral Vote card 94 by therepresentative of the Electoral College or the player from whom hewrested control.

When a player accumulates 60 percent or more of the votes of a votingunit, he earns a special bonus to aid him in the conduct of hispolitical campaign. Thus, if player A lands on the voting unit whereinat least 60 percent of the vote iscontrolled by player B, player A must,before taking his turn at the calculator, surrender 10 percent of thevotes he already possesses on that unit to player B. Further, player Bis permitted to increase his control of the voting unit by 10 percent.Thus,

player A removes one of his tokens 84 from the unit while player B addsanother token to that unit to further increase his control over thatunit.

As stated hereinbefore', when the total percentage of controlled voteequals percent, for a given voting unit, the polls for that unit areconsidered closed. If a Running Mate or Decision card relating to thatunit is drawn, it is ignored and another card is drawn. Any player,regardless of whether he controls votes within that unit or not, wholands on that unit takes no action. Thus, the unit becomes, in effect, afree resting space. Any player landing on such a space would, of course,not take a turn at the vote calculator.

If the beforementioned player A (who has landed on a voting unit whereinat least 60 percent of the votes are controlled by player B) does notcontrol 10 percent of the votes of that unit, he must surrender 10percent of his votes from any other unit in which he controls votes, theselection of the unit where player A will lose votes being made byplayer B. However. in this situation, player B does'not substitute oneof his tokens for the one surrendered by player A. Once whateverrequired penalty has been levied against player A, he then takes histurn at the calculator in an effort to wrest control of the voting unitfrom player B.

If player B controls at least 60 percent of the votes in several or allof the units within one of the coalitions 37-47, further tacticaladvantages are given to him. Thus, if player A lands on one of suchunits, he must surrender 10 percent of the votes controlled by him ineach of the voting units of the coalition wherein player B controls atleast 60 percent of the vote. If player A does not control 10 percent ofthe vote in one or more of those units controlled by player B in thecoalition, the procedure is the same as that stated above where player Bcontrols only one voting unit within a coalition. However, if player Bis given more than one opportunity to penalize player A, he can onlydemand that player A surrender 10 percent per voting unit. Hence, ifplayer B is given three opportunities, they must be 10 percent of threedifferent voting units and not 30 percent of one unit. Further, player 8cannot demand that player surrender 10 percent of the vote in any unitin which the polls have closed.

To illustrate the above assume player B controls at least 60 percent ofthe votes in New York, New Jersey and Ohio, all in the Big Citycoalition 47. Player A controls 10 percent of the vote in New York andnone in New Jersey and Ohio. If player A lands on New Jersey,the-following'occurs before player A can take his turn at the calculatorof FIG. 2. In New York, player A removes his token 84 and player B addsanother of his tokens. In New Jersey and Ohio, nothing occurs sinceplayer A has no control whatsoever over these states. Thus, player Brequests that player A remove two tokens respectively from two othervoting units of player Bs choice. However, player B cannot replace theselatter'tokens with ones of his own. Further, player B cannot forceplayer A to remove two tokens from one voting unit.

The effect of landing on the spaces 40 through 58 has already beendescribed in detail hereinbefore. It can now be seen that the playershave many opportunities to employ various aggressive, holding, ordefensive strategies which are characteristic of the decisions madeduring an actual political campaign. Illustrative of a situation wherevarious types of strategies could be employed is as follows:

Assume that:

l. there are no tokens 84 on Ohio, which has 26 electoral votes;

2. player-A has one token on New York which has 43 electoral votes whilenone of the other players has any tokens on this state;

3. player B, the game leader at the moment has two tokens on Californiawhich has 40 electoral votes while none of the other players has anytokens on this state;

4. player C has six tokens on Michigan which is worth 21 electoral voteswhile none of the other players has any tokens on this state; and

I 5. player D has five tokens on Pennsylvania which has 29 ,CICCOIQIvotes. Assuming that player D has just passed Election Central and henow has the opportunity to gain state. This would, for themoment, givehim Ohios Electoral card which is worth 26 electoral votes; 7 he couldplace his token on New York and tie for majorit'y control of thatstate-As a result, player A would have to return New Yorks ElectoralVote card to theElectoral l College. This would mean that player'D mighthave a f betterchance for eventuallygaining' majority controlof New Yorkfor himself, and regardless of this fact he has already caused thesubtraction of 43 electoral votes from" player Afs total; l j I he couldplace his token on California. Since player Bis the current leader itmight be wise to stay close on his heels in such a big state,- in orderto possibly obtain majority control at a later time;

tor. Since player C contr'olsl) percent of the'vo'te in that state itmight be wise to protect himself. For if helahdson Michigan'andhasnotoken' there, thenplayer C'may force him to give up 10 percent of'hisvotes in a valuable state he cannotaiford to lose; and e he couldplace the token on"Pennsylvania. Since he" already has tokens thereihewould be giving himself-the advantages that accrue from controlling 60percent or more of the votes in a state: 1 Having describedindetailIthe' preferred method of playing the game, an alternate methodwill now bedescribed wherein the player obtaining (l the most popularvotes withina' predetermined period of time (60 minutes for two or threeplayers and 90 minutes for'four, fiv e' or six players) or 2 20,000,000popular votes (two or three players) or 14,000,000 popular votes (four,five or six players) wins-The 1 equipment employed is the same as in thepreferred method except that the Ballot cards 96 oi- FIG. 7 are usedratherthan' the Electoral Vote cards of FIG. 6. The remaining difingthegame are'few andare'as follows: 4 I e I. A player'is desig fatejd asrepresentative of-the'State Else non Board and he l1olds"the Ballots.'Heperforms'the same duties as the representative for theElecto'ral'College' in the preferred method only he is dealing withBallots and notElectoral Vote cards; j

2. Players are not concerned in any way with'Electdral' Votes and as'a'result are concerned only with the number on the right in eachstatesquare;

3. Every time a player wins votes he rcceivesthat equivalent amount inBallots from the State Election Board. If he loses votes he returns that'equivalentiback to the State Election Board. Note that Ballots arenever transferred from player to player as' are Electoral Vote cards inh the preferred method;

4.Therc' is no such thing'as breaking a tie on'a particular state. Ifboth Players A and B have percent of the vote in New York, then each isentitled to 1,000,000 votes (in Ballots) in his possession; and

ferences between the preferred'and alternate methods of play 5. If oneplayer has more votes than another'in astate, he 60' does n o't'gain allthe votes for that state. Each player is en titled to the number-ofvoteshe has won; w i Everything else remains the same,'includirlg the'methodof setup, selection of party and political issues, use of the"calculator, coalition bonuses, rules concerning possession of 60 percent ormore of a states votes, rules for corner squares, etc.-

After the game is over=ancl the winner has been determined there mayremain some voting units which are unclaimed either in the electoral orpopular vote method of playing the game. In order to add a final notcofauthenticity to the game, 70

the votes of these unclaimed voting units may be added tothe vote totalof the winning player thereby correspondingly increase his total. Thisincreased total has no bearing on the game outcome. However, as'statedabove, it does add a final note of authenticity to the game. t

. he could place'his token on Michigan as player safety fae-Manyrpossible modifications of the invention have been discussedhereinbefore. Still numerous other modifications will become apparentupon reading the foregoing disclosure. During such a reading, it will beevident that this invention has provided'a unique political'campaigngame for accomplishing the advantages and objects herein stated.

I claim: 1. A political campaign game apparatus for a plurality ofplayers'comprisingt e I a game board having a main course'thereondivided into a plurality of spaces and constituting a playing path forthe players;

N of said spaces having marked thereon distinctive indicia to identifywhich one of N voting units is represented thereby; 1

a vote calculator including a matrixof M rows corresponding to M issuesof a political campaign and N columns 'corre sponding to said N votingunits, said calculator having marked thereon (l the same indicia as thatmarked on the game board spaces to identify saidN columns and therebydistinguish the voting units from one another and 2 numerical indicia toidentify said M rows;

each cell defined by the intersection of one of said M rows with one ofsaid N columns having marked thereon a plurality of change indicia, eachof which is indicative of the percentage of change in the number ofvotes the voting unit corresponding to the cell will give or withdraw onthe issue corresponding to the cell;

individually distinctive playing pieces respectively corresponding tothe plurality of players for indicating the movement of the player sthrough said main course; and

means for selecting. by chance a number which is used to determine theextent ofmovement of said playing pieces through said course and fordetermining which of said M issues is to be campaigned upon.

2. A political campaign game apparatus as in claim 1 where at least oneof said main course spaces has marked thereon indicia indicating thenumber of votes available from the voting unit named thereon. l

I 3. A political, game apparatus as in claim 1 where N equals .Apolitical game apparatus as in claim 1 where M equals said N columnsextend radially and said M rows are concentric.

rings, and said circular dial having a notched sector for expos5 ing oneof said N radial'columns;

7. A political campaign game apparatus as in claim 1 includ ing: aset'of Decision cardsy'which have inscribed thereon at least twogame-affecting instructions, said board having designated thereon aspace in which said cards may be stacked.- 8.'A-po'litical campaign gameapparatus as in claim 7 including a set of Running Mate cards, whichhave inscribed thereon game-affecting instructions relating to thehypothetical running mates of the respective political candidaterepresented by the playing pieces.

9. A political game apparatus as in claim 8 including aplurality ofdistinctive. sets of tokens respectively visually corresponding to saidplaying pieces for positioning on the playing board adjacent each ofsaid main course spaces, said tokens being of a size suitable for saidpositioning.

10-. A political game apparatus as in claim 9 including a set ofElectoral Vote cards respectively designating one of said N spacesrepresenting voting units.

11. A political game apparatus as in claim 9 including a set of Ballotcards g respectively indicating a predetermined number of votes.

13. A political game apparatus as in claim I wherein said chanceselection means comprises a spinner.

